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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29646510">Early Start</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Daxiefraxie/pseuds/Daxiefraxie'>Daxiefraxie</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>WKTD Roadtrip AU [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>We Know the Devil (Visual Novel)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/F, Lazy Mornings, Morning Cuddles, Post True Ending (We Know the Devil), Post-True Route, Road Trips</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-15 20:55:41</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>671</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29646510</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Daxiefraxie/pseuds/Daxiefraxie</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>She's holding Jupiter close, her head propped up by a pillow, and you can see the implications of a dozen handprints on the blanket around them. Flickers of fingers in the air.  You can see them both, faint. The curtain is keeping you from sunlight, but not from Venus's light, shimmering like the brightest star in a dark sky. She's breathtaking.</i>
</p><p>Neptune wakes up the odd one out. Set in the same AU as <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29580468">To Have, To Hold.</a></p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Jupiter/Neptune/Venus (We Know the Devil)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>WKTD Roadtrip AU [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2279966</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>19</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Early Start</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/JaneTheNya/gifts">JaneTheNya</a>.</li>



    </ul></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>You wake up. You can hear the birds, through the black curtain cutting off the alcove bed from sunlight, and through the sides of the RV. Venus had tucked the vehicle in a nice corner grove a mile or so off the freeway, and off any GPS. Eyes enough to see the perfect parking spot; nice to know that devils had their share of party tricks.</p><p>You can feel Jupiter's back against yours, curved as she clings to Venus. It's sweet, and cute, and stings a little. Not that the two are embracing, not even that you're excluded, but what that exclusion implies: that you must have shrugged her off in your sleep again. You sigh. Might as well get an early start on the day. You lean one arm on the bed, slipping the covers off.</p><p>"Toonie?" Venus's voice. Light, and marred by sleep. You glance over at her. She's holding Jupiter close, her head propped up by a pillow, and you can see the implications of a dozen handprints on the blanket around them. Flickers of fingers in the air.  You can see them both, faint. The curtain is keeping you from sunlight, but not from Venus's light, shimmering like the brightest star in a dark sky. She's breathtaking. "Stay, please."</p><p>What are you even supposed to say to that? "Uh," you mumble.</p><p>Venus pats the bed on the other side. "Can you come over here?"</p><p>"Yeah." You carefully scoot around, over Jupiter's legs, and to Venus's side. She holds up the covers, and you slip back under them. Jupiter's hands are on you then, as soon as you brush against Venus. A thousand touches, warm, dreaming. "Kinda handsy for a sleeping gal, huh?"</p><p>Venus chuckles, brushes a strand out of Jupiter's face. "It's like, when a dog starts running in their sleep?"</p><p>"Don't call my girlfriend a dog." You reach over and poke Venus's cheek, then settle down farther. Head on the pillow next to her. "What do you think she's dreaming about?" You lean your head over; Jupiter's cheek is pressed against Venus's chest, on her heart. Smiling, ever so slight. "Something nice, looks like."</p><p>"Us, maybe?" Venus offers. She seems to sink back, the pillow half swallowing her head, sending her light in odd patterns across the walls.</p><p>"Then she should wake up and kiss us already," you quip back. You don't close your eyes, not just yet. Venus's brilliance dims; she's probably starting to close hers.</p><p>"Tell me something?" Venus asks.</p><p>"Like what?"</p><p>"Anything. It doesn't have to be big." She shrugs, and reaches out for you. "Just something I don't know."</p><p>You catch her hand, hold it tight. "I love you."</p><p>"I know that," Venus laughs.</p><p>"Do you know how much?" Your gaze traces the corner where three walls meet. "You know, I stopped making escape plans, after a while."</p><p>"You had a lot of those, huh." It isn't a question.</p><p>"Contingencies on contingencies," you say. "One for every scenario. Always an exit strategy, even ones I didn't like. I didn't go into a room without knowing how to get back out of it."</p><p>Venus hums, thoughtful. "When did you stop?"</p><p>"Not sure," you admit. "Sometime after I met you, but before yesterday." You do close your eyes now. You're cold, in your heart, in your chest. Much too cold for this sort of warmth. Your lovers are a bright light and a raging heat, and you are the frigid ocean. The odd one out.</p><p>"I'm glad you did." She squeezes your hand tight, pulls it to her chest. "I'd miss you if you left. We wouldn't be us, without you."</p><p>You could protest. Even without a plan, you're quick on your feet. You know how to avoid outcomes, how to pull away. You've traced it to a fucking science. But you love her. Odd or not, even if you don't belong by their sides, that's where you want to be. Devils get to break rules like that, don't they? "Yeah. I'm glad too."</p>
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